Falling Into A Fandom Part One: Tom Hiddleston Fans

You know how sometimes when you’re on the internet looking for one thing and then three hours later you find yourself knee deep in some fandom and you forgot what you even started looking for to begin with? Yup, we’ve all been there. Enter my new reoccurring post series called “Falling Into A Fandom” in which I will find a fandom that either interests me or is suggested by YOU (see below) and follow it down whatever internet rabbit holes it takes me. Most of the time I won’t know much about the fandom, other times I’ll know nothing because I want your requests on where to take my next deep dive but every time I will bring you the best and the weirdest and the cringe-worthy (fingers crossed!).

This being my first outting for Falling Into A Fandom, I chose to deep dive Tom Hiddleston fans. WHY and WHO you might be asking, don’t worry all will be revealed and learned as we jump into this fandom together. I chose Tom because honestly, I already have a mild fascination with him when about two years ago on a 15 hour flight (kill me now) I ended up watching Thor on repeat probably like, 8 times, mostly due to the fact that I was on a bad Lunesta trip and couldn’t keep my eyes open long enough to watch the entire movie or turn it off so it ended up repeating itself over and over and over again (thanks Emrites in flight entertainment!). When I was able to emerge from the haze, those 3 minute bouts of awake-ness just happened to have Loki on screen and he stole EVERY scene. There’s something about Tom and Loki that made you care for the character and have some actual empathy for who’s supposed to be the film’s baddie. Sorry Chris Hemsworth, maybe it’s the two year old remnants of the Lunesta talking but ever since that fateful flight I’ve been a Loki fan and have watched the other Marvel movies for the sole purpose of seeing more of the bad ass, sensitive, misunderstood, villainy of Tom Hiddleston. Also, he tweets quite frequently and that makes it even MORE fun.

Fandom Background

It seems as though Tom Hiddleston’s turn as Loki in Thor and the Avengers sparked something deep in the psyche of this fandom and by psyche of course I mean their vageens. And really, who could blame them, while Chris Hemsworth as Thor was hot, he was a bit too big-dumb-whiney boy-Golden-Retriever-esque -jock type for my tastes and clearly everyone else in the Loki/Tom fandom tastes as well. Thor was hot to look at for a minute but lacked any sort of lasting appeal or fandom spurring action. Enter the gorgeous, wounded, can cry and make YOU cry evil genius of Tom Hiddleston as Loki and the rest (including this fandom’s panties, sanity and common sense) was history.

We shall find out Tom, soon enough…

Let’s set the stage a bit shall we:

Tom loves waist coats.

Tom like to smile… A LOT (you will see just how much Tom likes to smile).

Tom likes having a good time like playing ping pong on pink tables with non-existent partners.

And stealing his costars props and taking pictures and being generally a good time

He also enjoys stealing children while on set and taking the BEST.PICTURES.EVER! Read the whole (deliciously cute) story here.
He wears a fake mustache named WENDY (and you thought your fandom was weird!) which became famous thanks to a little Josh Horowitz/After Hours MTV Sketch with Tom called Loki’d which ALSO spawned the Loki’d phenomenon, more on this later. Wendy the mustache spawned #ProjectWendy which was about the Tom fandom and ending up not only trending but getting Tom himself to tweet about it, which just makes him all the more shippable.Source

He was also a bell hop in a previous life and REALLY just wants to tote your bags for you.
Or eat a banana while channeling a British Clark Kent vibe. Do you get why I chose Tom Hiddleston first?!.

Best Known From:

Thor, The Avengers

Midnight In ParisSource
Clearly, this was before they discovered the internet.

War HorseSource
Yes, that’s Tom on a horse next to Benedict Cumberbatch with a creepy-weird mustache aka when fandoms collide and explode under the weight of the epicness..

Nicknames

Hiddles.

Fandom Known As

Fandom Drama

Hating on anyone near Tom – most recently TILDA SWINTON, his costar in Only Lovers Left Alive wherein they play 400 year old Vampires (casting WIN). While cruising a Tom fan Instagram account (those are real things that exist) I found out there was some MAJOR Tilda Swinton bashing over the weekend after Tom and Tilda’s photocall which I was shocked and amazed by. TILDA SWINTON, the 52 year old mother of twins, androgynous, Dorothy Zbornak channeling lady tower was threatening the Hiddlestoners?!?!? I don’t even know what to say other than point you to this hilarious Buzzfeed post about Tom and Tilda and their “fictional romance.”

Thor / Chris Hemsworth Fandom – This seems to me like Thor version of Team Edward vs Team Jacob, aka it doesn’t REALLY matter and doesn’t make sense since both characters are central and integral to the story. EITHER WAY from my deep dive it seems at though Tom/Loki has quite a bit bigger fandom than Chris/Thor which also doesn’t make any difference because there will still be Thor and Loki action figures and Thor and Loki merchandise. It’s cool Thor/Chris fans, the world needs you too!

Fandom Memes

#Because Tom HiddlestonSource
It’s the answer to everything really — why are we watching Avengers AGAIN? Why is he so perfect? Why is he so cute with Mark Ruffalo’s son? Why does he drive this fandom nutso crazy? BECAUSE TOM HIDDLESTON, that’s why! And it has it’s own Tumblr tag..

Major Players in Real Life

Luke the PublicistSource
Luke Windsor, Tom Hiddleston’s publicist/manager/whatever – To me Luke the publicist is like the Nick Frenkel (Robert Pattinson’s fan-famous manager) of Tom’s life or the Hot Body Guard of Kristen Stewart’s fandom. Luke the Publicist has his own memes and his own (intense) tag on Tumblr. I’m also pretty sure there is Hiddleston/Luke IRL slash fanfiction out there and if there isn’t some Hiddlestoner has been falling down on their job. Awkward IRL fanfics are what take fandoms to the next level. Bonus points for the above Luke/Tom slash fanart.

Major Players on the Internetz

Relationships

Besides the Tilda Swinton blow up and the Luke the publicist Tumblr fantasy there’s not really any one I can find via Google or being talked about by the fans. So GOOD NEWS EVERYONE, Tom is single. I’m sure after he reads this he’s definitely MINE! Come and get me Tom!

Past: Actress named Susannah Fielding whom he broke up with in 2011, some woman named Amanda he was seen at a tennis event with and another woman named Sian Clifford. Based on those names I know it can’t last. I KID but the Tom fandom doesn’t think Sian is the real deal even though they were seen at some premieres together (corroborated by Sian’s sister tweeting about it). God, I love when fandoms get weird and siblings of randoms are brought in as proof that something did or didn’t happen. If you need a further primer on Tom’s past relationships go here..

Important Fandom Videos

It’s kind of frightening how good he is at all of these not to mention frightening how he still knows ALL the lyrics to Will Smith’s “Welcome to Miami.” Uhhh??.

And because I love you, the hottest T.H. vid I found on Youtube:

set to Sia’s Breath Me because OF COURSE IT IS. It must be written somewhere in the international fan vid making constitution that Sia’s Breath Me must be used whenever and however humanly possible. Even with the creepy echo-y voice thing, this is like… surface of the sun hot. YOU’RE SOOO WELCOME. I’ll give you a minute… or 20..

Important Fan Art

SourceThe Hiddlelisa – If I saw the Hiddlelife once in my deep dive, I saw the Hiddlelisa a billion times and on every blog and fandom and Twitter. Rightly so, it is a fanart masterpiece of photoshop and WHAT THE FFUUUU-ehehehehehe all rolled into one. Good job Hiddlestoners..

SourceCross Stitch Hiddleston – Honestly, I would hang this in my house somewhere (over my bed) as a testament to fandoms and fans and their enduring love even when it’s a little weird and over the top and AWESOME. Bonus points for the “Ehehehe” background..

Related Fandoms

The Avengers
Marvel.

Bonus!

If you know anything about me you’ll probably know I died a thousand deaths when I saw these photos and found out about his Unicef involved and recent trip to Guinea (read about it here). If ever there was a perfect man, these photos are it for me. And like that, I fell down a fandom hole and have never been so happy about it. Tom, I know some kids in Kenya you can visit with me this summer! Call me!.

Final Verdict

I think his fans love him for more than just his looks, or Loki. In fact I think they like him more based on his personality, his charm, his interest in his fans and his willingness to get down and dirty with his fans (they wish) enjoy this whole thing more than anything else. Maybe I have indeed been Loki’d (see what I did there?!) by Tom Hiddleston but I am a smitten kitten. He is not overtly hot or classically good looking but gosh darnit if I don’t find him irresistible now, I may in fact be following a few of the Tumblrs and blogs I dove into for this post along with some fan Instagram accounts and Twitters but as the kids say: I REGRET NOTHING!!!OF COURSE there’s a Tom “I Regret Nothing” gif. Come on people, do we not know this Fandom enough by now?

On a scale of 1 to Dr. Who/Twilight/Supernatural, I’d say the Tom Hiddleston fandom falls somewhere in the 7-8 range with the option for massive explosion in the next few years. While there seem to be some fringe crazies, mostly this fandom is a bunch of fun and make really FUN stuff to look at online. It also ranks quite high on the fandom scale because of the Luke Windsor fascination. When you see fan art/comics/fic/posts based solely on the celebs TEAM you KNOW shit’s about to get crazy. This fandom’s at a simmering boil. Get in now if Tom Hiddleston is your siren song.

Cautionary Notes: WHEN Tom finds a lady friend, I fear things could get ugly..

Other Fandoms I might deep dive into… if your fave isn’t in here PLEASE comment it and I’ll take a look! You never know which fandom I’ll pop into next.
Sherlock
Benedict Cumberbatch
Dr. Who
Superman
Hunger Games
FireFly

TAGS

Nikki’s Current Obsessions: Using Elton John lyrics as my Tagline. Dogs. Jon Snow. Hello Kitty. Game of Thrones. Saying a/s/l before starting a chat with a friend. The word “myello.” Vampires. That guy in that band. Stalk me @itshowtimenikki everywhere!

I would love if someone broke down all the sub genres of crazy in the Robsten fandoms. I get lost on twitter with all the bickering.

itshowtimenikki

HMMMMM i think i just might add it to my list.

and honestly, the hiddles. i’m a fan after this.

Lorena

It’s so hard not to be!

I actually went to see Thor at the dollar theater with my male friend (who is straight) and he was SO BORED (Portman does NOT pull her weight in this film AT ALL). The film was sooooooo bad from a plot standpoint and somewhat CGI bad too, and Thor’s role was sooooo boring, that I’m actually surprised more people didn’t leave the theater.

EXCEPT that this Shakespearean mastermind actor was in it. Some dude we’d never seen before who was clearly classically trained, but able to translate that to camera. It was like seeing David Tennant in Hamlet-made-for-TV as the first thing of his you saw. Just really stunning.

Add in dark hair with blue eyes and actual character development to an otherwise 100% flat film, and you’ve got a fandom in the making.

But, Nikki, you didn’t watch Deep Blue Sea. So you have not truly gone all the way until you watch that. Prepare yourself for being emotionally horrific afterward. The movie is NOT about Tom’s character at all, and it’s really brutally honest and heartbreaking and brilliant. But. I will never see it again because I cannot emotionally process it twice. (be sure you have chocolate and/or ice cream at home already before watching!!!)

GoWithIt

I second a Robsten/Rob/Krisbians post. We’ve all been there with posters, but it is always a place I want to go back to.

TheColdWoman

LOVE Tom Hiddleston!! I saw him in Thor first, and then Thor second when I got it for Christmas, then was surprised to see him a few days later in War Horse … and NOT be evil. Seriously, I expected him to punch the horse in the face as soon as the kid turned around he was that deliciously evil in Thor. So I’ve been seeking out his filmography since. Very impressive actor. Also, when I fell down the rabbit hole and was internet searching obsessively, I swear I saw something about him dating Kat Dennings (like around when Thor was filming-ish)… but the next thing I saw was she was dating Nick Zano, also from 2 Broke Girls, so idk.

itshowtimenikki

he is SOOOO evil as loki, it’s awesome but then so tender a some of his other charatcers. ACTING!

it seems as though he was with this susannah chick for a while around 2010-2011 which would have been during thor filming but them again it’s not very clear just that one tumblr that HATES/D her. HAHHA

Lorena

I think he cheated on her (according to some pappz photos — I don’t keep up with that kind of crap ever, so I’m not a good source). Anyway, there’s a pic of him and Susannah at the US Open from during filming (of Avengers) and she was doing promotional stuff in NYC at the time. They went to drama uni together, so I think they were dating for a bit. But have since broke up (I guess it said they were married on their wiki pages, and so there was a report about that/ it was changed/ whatever) I would assume it’s because he is always working and traveling and she’s doing theatre in London, which doesn’t really enable a lot of travel. (OMG I’m embarrassed I know this much.)

Excellent work!! I’m not sure if it’s TH that I ‘heart’ or if it’s actually the fandom. lolz

itshowtimenikki

they seem VERY fun! even my small interaction with them so far made me a fan of them

Beth

Whoa. You DOVE down the rabbit hole. That’s some serious investigative fandournalism right there. Is there a sect of Hiddlestoners that don’t understand why he looks so much older than he really is? That bothers me.

itshowtimenikki

RIGHT?! after my investigation thought i think it really depends on the pic. some he looks young some old. it’s like a dorian grey thing i guess

Adrienne

there’s this. I’ve watched it 1,000 times (that’s normal) and still laugh every single time. Loki/Thor bromance which has been around since the first Thor movie – the fandom is serious but also very funny!

OMG! LOVE IT! I watched I dont know HOW many avengers/thor press/interview videos and never saw this one. AMAZING. now that’s a SHIP I can get behind.

oh dang i forgot the tom/chris tshirt pics. SAD.

GoWithIt

They are now my new Robsten 😉

sandynlouisiana

This was fantastic! Good job! I knew he had a following but not to this extent. I smiled the whole time I read this. I especially like the Bonus section with the pics from his involvement with UNICEF. I too, have fell down the fandom hole and consider myself “Loki’d”.

itshowtimenikki

DUDE i was shocked at how big his fandom is. I would say it’s probably the biggest of the marvel characters… maybe that’s just me being Loki’d but still.

I spent way too much time in the post and the related links. And of course I regret nothing!

But GIRL it’s DOCTOR Who, not Dr. It’s a name not a degree 😉
And as far as jumping into the fandom, that’s commitment! Otherwise, it’s going to be a “What I know about DW via Tumblr” edition. But I have faith and since my faith is normal… Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doctor_Who_serials#Ninth_Doctor — Start with Nine’s first episode “Rose” and give it a few episodes because you need this season for Ten!Tennant. (Besides with Nine’s series you get Captain Jack Harkness for the first time) Because David Tennant when fandom shit gets cray!! (Really David Tennant can and should have his own post…) Then you get to add Eleven!Smith. Also with “New” Who vs Original Who. Also with the best or favorite companion. And the drama about Doctor Who and sexism. AND I JUST REALLY WANT TO BE THERE FOR YOU. #thatsnormal

And it is Firefly. And when it comes to me and the Whedonverse fandom, well…. Joss Whedon has larger stock on my soul than Doctor Who and, well, you’ve read this comment so far…

itshowtimenikki

SEE! I didn’t know that is matters if it’s Dr. or DOCTOR and fireFLY is probably a typo since this took forever to write.

DOCTOR who fandom kind of scares me. i may need to work up to it.

K∆T ☮&♥

I think the “Whovian” fandom is so intense because

a) there is nearly “50 years” of content and

b) America caught the bug in the last few

The 50th anniversary special is November 23rd so you have time 😉

Dr vs Doctor is a drama for those who care about grammar, I guess. Seeing as he goes by the name Doctor and the gag is in the question that Dr. is usually in front of a name. “Doctor? Doctor ~who?” So for me and a few others, Dr. is lazy and incorrect. I had a friend argue that because “they” meaning announcement links or articles online use “Dr.” it is basically canon. I had a vision of smacking her in the head with the Urban dictionary #normal

itshowtimenikki

YOU GUYS!! I forgot important fandom FAN FICTION!! ugh. Next time…

GoWithIt

Speaking of Tom Hindleston fan fiction (goodness, I just typed Hindleson and had to check. How Pattison of me) where is Team Seth?

TeamSeth

(laughs)

(clears throat)

ehehehehehehe

Oh, I’m here.

fandomhoor

Based on my tumblr dash…Supernatural, Sherlock, Doctor Who, Klaine (Glee), Les Mis, Starkid, and Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons all have obsessive fandoms and might be good places to start!

niki

good digging but you’ve got a MAJOR point wrong the Thor/Chris Hemsworth fandom isn’t an oposistion. Most Hiddlestoners ship/ are obsessed with Tom’s bromance with Chris. In fact there is more fandom obession with them then with Tom/Luke. Look up Hiddlesworth its a huge part of the fandom and dont get me started on the fans behind the Loki/Thor fandom…trust me I’m a Hiddlestoner

Luludee

The Man is AMAZING. Fantastic choice on your first exploration. WELCOME!!

Lorena

Oh, I’ve got your awkward IRL fan fic. Don’t your fret.

I just don’t publicly share that shit EVER.

#badfan
#smartperson

Lorena

you*

(got TOO excited in replying)
(Tom is always the best thing ever, while still funny, in my IRL fan fic)
(Once I read this IRL fan fic where he was totally emotionally abusive. Why would you ever write a fiction about yourself with an emotionally abusive person? That is sad and disheartening…. I suppose tropes abound.)
(Feels bad about emotionally abusive lead males in IRL fan fiction)

(separately giggles that my husband used the term “in RL” just yesterday)

PervyGirl

You missed his god given…. Attributes that he likes to show off by keeping his knees a mile apart all the time…

Elise is Tweeting

I love this article…I am totally biased of course. But don’t stop diving deeeeep! There’s plenty more to add like his recent Boss Job at SDCC Hall H and also the fact his 3 mth run of performances sold out in half an hour. Can one man have too much awesome…naaaah!

GOOOOOODDDDD (I meant to say ‘God’ with dramatic effect) i didn’t asked for this.. is this normal? i’m married, i love my husband dearly, and then this man showed up on the screen for a couple times, and the next thing i knew, i’m back to my teenager year where i do research about Westlife, but this time, it hits me hard. HARD. like i cant help myself not to look for any news about this man, every single day. really sisters, is this normal?

Lainey

I’m right there with you. Married, 3 children. And obsessed with Tom Hiddleston. It’s insane!